Good web design?

Occasionally I follow the link from a commercial web site to the design company that created it which is how I ended up at http://www.vohm.com/. There I was greeted with this:



Not even a "Click here for text version" or "Skip animation". Am I going to spend time downloading and installing the very latest software so I can see some flash animation? No.

Anyway it is a corporate laptop and against company policy to install unauthorised software. So I click "No" expecting the html alternative site. What I get is this:



So I click "OK" and get this:



A completely blank screen. Utterly content free. Hmmm! Would you buy web design services from this company?

Perhaps they should read: "Flash: 99% Bad" or "Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2005" or "Making Flash Usable for Users With Disabilities". The articles may be a couple of years old but the song remains the same. And I am sure Google would throw up a few more articles on the same theme.

Thames Bridges Bike Ride 2008

Fourteen bridges, 33 miles in aid of The Stroke Association along with 2000+ other riders.

As I wrote earlier ("Cash Rich, Time Poor") for Mum's 83rd birthday "We took our bikes with us on the train and on the way back we cycled 30 miles but that is another story..." So here is the story:

Instead of catching the train back we donned our cycling gear and pedalled off. The first part of the journey was along the new national cycle route 22. This took us along a delightful valley running parallel with the Hog's Back as far as Guildford.

There we picked up the River Wey Navigation. It started off with a proper tow path but as we got into open country it degenerated into meadow. Cycling over tussocks is hard work and our average speed plummeted. By the time we reached Weybridge we had covered 30 miles and it was starting to get dusk. So we hopped on a train for the rest of the homeward journey. That had always been the plan we just weren't sure which station.

Then Friday just gone Mary said "Let's not cycle home for gym and yoga followed by a fish supper. Let's cycle past Wandsworth and keep going to Kingston!" So that is what we did.

A very pleasant 20 mile commute along the Thames Path arriving knackered at KOT about 8 o'clock. We dined at Frere Jacques, looking a little put of place in our cycling gear, then caught the train home.

Sunday was what all this training was for. Up at our normal weekday time along with our friend Lynn to cycle up to Clapham Junction, train to Waterloo and cycle to the start line. We were on the very first batch over the line unfortunately we only got as far as the first bridge, Tower, when Mary's bike took a puncture :-( that lost us some time but we were soon on our way.

After that is was the same routine as previous years: cycle, pit stop, cycle, pit stop, finish and go to the Bell for lunch and a well deserved pint (or two), then train home. All in all we did over 40 miles.

Clapham Junction at 07:15

At the start

Puncture at Tower Bridge

Richmond Park

Rest stop

Over the finish line

Helmet hair style

See http://www.flickr.com/photos/8179454@N02/sets/72157605025427055/ for a fuller set of larger images.

Thames Bridges 2007
Thames Bridges 2006

May Day 2008 in Trullo Azzurro

We have just had a long weekend in Trullo Azzurro. Out on the Italian public holiday (01-May-08) and back on the English holiday (05-May-08). That latter due to the English habit of moving holidays to the next available Monday.

Unlike the previous two <quote>holidays<unquote> this was billed as relaxing. South Africa was decorating and shopping and our previous Italian trip was unbagging the over-wintered bedding and weeding. Our efforts plus a "re-activation" of the gardener means the beds are looking good and starting to look established.



And mostly it was a relaxing trip too, I am glad to say. Apart from moving 20 quintale (two tons) of logs from where the lorry dumped them to the newly created woodpile.



The spring flowers are in full bloom. The poppies are everywhere and the road side verges are full of all manner of wild flowers.



One thing about the local market is that there are no beans from Kenya or mange tout from Mozambique. What you get is what is in season. Most noticeably on this visit fresh peas. In the pod of course not shelled or frozen.



We went to Locorotondo Market and bought food for the weekend. We had neighbours John and Chris(tine) round for Sunday lunch and in the evening, as if we weren't full enough already, went round to Mino and Carole's where we were arm-twisted into staying for the evening meal.

They had 15 for dinner as the first guests of the season had arrived: a Dutch family and a group of, mostly retired, English ladies on a painting trip. So Mary and I were co-opted into the brigade for table laying and mushroom chopping. We had mushroom souffle, green pea and bean risotto, vegetable stuffed chicken and one of Mino's signature dishes bread and butter pudding. All washed down with plenty of their own home produced wine.

Cash Rich, Time Poor

This phrase could have been coined for us. We do not have a problem with work / life balance - we have an equally excessive abundance of both! What we wrestle with is the triple constraint of work / life / hours-in-the-day balance - trying to squeeze a quart into a pint pot. Hence two weeks without a post.

The last two weekends have had a tidy symmetry about them, both involving mothers and old friends. Last week end was Scotland to visit Mary's Mum, this weekend just gone was Farnham to visit my mum.

Last weekend we flew up to Scotland and did the usual: baby sitting for Mary's sister Sandra and George. Saturday was spent with May, shopping and cooking a meal. Sunday we went into central Glasgow for lunch with a couple of Mary's college friends: Christine and Geraldine and Alisdair.


The McLellan Family Celebrate Mum's 81st Birthday
Jane, Michael, Sarah, Pete, Mary, Mark, Geri, Ian.

This weekend we had my old friends Carmike&Lorna plus youngest son David for a DP. Saturday we saw the last night of "The Importance of Being Earnest" starring Penelope Keith. Sunday we went to Farnham for Mum's 81st birthday. We took our bikes with us on the train and on the way back we cycled 30 miles but that is another story...

The Persistence of Memory

Since about the age of fifteen I have kept a diary. Not so much "Dear Diary ..." more like "Went round to Bill's, played conkers".

I recently went up into the loft and came across my diaries from the early '80s when I was young, single and had a busy social calendar. When I read entries like "Drinks with Simon" and "Theatre with Caroline" I have to say I was thinking "Who the #~$* are Simon and Caroline?". Many of the names I recognised and am still in touch with but a scary number had sunk into the tar pit of time :-(

For a while I had a PDA - a Philips Nino - and that was my diary. When it eventually gave up the ghost I was left with 3 year hole in my memory. Now I have Gullible's Travels and it acts as off-site memory storage. It is like being able to Google my own brain to find out what I did and when!

So here is some spider food:

• Thursday, March 27, 2008 - Went to see the recording of Ready, Steady, Cook
• Tuesday, April 01, 2008 - Went to see Youssou N'Dour at IndigO2
• Saturday, April 05, 2008 - Hosted dinner party for siblings and partners
• Friday, April 11, 2008 - Went down to Farnham to give Mum some internet coaching

Furnishing the apartment 3

So I took the easy option and snagged the photos that Mary had already selected from our advert on http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/p96973. The apartment is only 57.5 m² but the terrace is a whopping 64 m².

Everything you see in these photos was bought in the mad shopping spree that was our visit. And I do mean everything down to the bag of pegs in the bathroom and the washing up bowl in the sink. Plus, of course, the scatter cushions as well - it's a girl thing <rolls eyes>.

living room and kitchen

front view living room

terrace view towards mountains

view from kitchen

bedroom 1

bedroom 2

bedroom 3 (single bed)

bedroom 3 (2 beds)

Opening up Trullo Azzurro for the Season

The weekend was a flying visit to Italy to prepare Trullo Azzurro (formerly known as "Hovel in the Hills") for the coming season. We closed down back in October (see "Closing Down Trullo Azzuro for the Winter") now we have to get everything back out of the plastic bags and put all the bedding, sun loungers etc in the right houses.

It really was a flying visit, out 7:30 Saturday morning, back 21:20 Sunday evening. We went straight from and to work, staying at the SAS Radisson Friday and Sunday nights. Extends our trip and makes it feel more like a weekend break.

It was a productive visit. We met with Daniele the architect who brokered a meeting with the gardener who we had never actually met. We got quotes for some additional paving work and settled up our debts from last year, respectively. Then we went in to Cisternino to meet with Pierdonato to top up the kitty for the "meet and greet" and cleaning services. We also got an update on the water pump problems (don't ask). Finally it was out for a very enjoyable meal at Refugium Peccatorum with neighbours Chris and John.

Sunday we did popped round to see Mino at Truddhi where he kindly gave a bottle to the just-bottled wine we saw being pressed as grapes last year. Followed by an unplanned lunch at Chris and John's. The rest of the day was spent weeding the beds. No maintenance had been done over the winter and the place was looking very overgrown. Fortunately it is possible to make a huge visible difference in just a couple of hours. Then it was a final tidy up and off to the airport.

T5 may have problems with baggage but Stansted has problems with immigration. It took 45 minutes queuing to get through to the immigration desk so it was gone half midnight before we fell into bed. Which is why we stay at the airport. We are back out again in May for a long weekend over the May bank holiday which should be much more relaxing.

Hermanus Apartment on YouTube

As well as taking lots of photos of the apartment I took a couple of mini-videos with my camera:


The Living Room


The Terrace

If you want to see photos visit our ad on http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/

Street Life (Clerihews and Limericks)

Walking across Waterloo bridge this morning I was enumerating to myself those buildings that I could identify. Chief amongst them being, of course, St Paul's Cathedral where Mary and I got married.

Into my head popped a piece of trivia I inherited from my father, also an architect: a Clerihew about the architect of that fine building:

Sir Christopher Wren
Said "I am going to dine with some men.
"If anybody calls,
Say I am designing St Paul's."

The unbalanced and unpolished poetic meter and line length parody the limerick, which in turn reminded me of:

There was a young man of Japan
Whose verses never would scan.
When they said, "But the thing
Doesn't go with a swing,
He replied, "No, but I try to get as many words into the last line as I possibly can!" [1]

Our first braai

We ate out the first couple of nights and then decided we had to eat as the locals do and christen our 'braai' which is Afrikaans for barbeque. Out on our terrace we had barbequed ostrich burgers and boerewors, a spicy long sausage. Washed down with an excellent local wine.

We have a picnic table up on our terrace that Mary spotted and liked at a local furniture store but we decided sadly it would be not be possible to get it up the stairs and through the apartment. It was solidly built and did not dismantle. Next thing I knew four lads turned up to give it a go even though we had not ordered it. As luck would have it the four of them were able to grunt it up the stairs and, by taking *both* doors off their hinges, squeeze it through the apartment with millimeters to spare. Mary was a happy bunny.

Furnishing the apartment 2

Saturday as soon as the fridge was delivered it was back to Tafelberg Furniture to finish off the shopping. And boy did we shop. The third bed, a truckle, a three piece suite, four bar stools for the breakfast bar, bedside cabinets and assorted housewares. All to be delivered Tuesday.

By the time we got back it was late afternoon and time to get ready for the evening meal.

The next three days can be briefly summarized: Mary shopped, I decorated. Ten hours Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday till 2 was painting the ceiling and walls of the living room and smallest bedroom. It looks so much cleaner and fresher.

Today all the furniture arrived and the place is transformed from a messy disaster zone into a very smart apartment. Now it is off to Mediterranea for a nice meal to celebrate. The other to bedrooms can wait till christmas for their lick of paint.

Furnishing the apartment 1

We landed at Cape Town airport at 9am to be met by Ronel of Percy Tours. By 10am we were in Tafelberg Furniture at Somerset West looking at beds. Having bought two queen size beds and bedding it was off to Hermanus and the estate agent to pick up the keys.

At the apartment it was a case of drop off the luggage and into town to buy the bed linen. Then back to the apartment to take delivery of the beds. Impressive same day customer service.

Then it was back into Hermanus to buy a kettle and a fridge for delivery the following morning at 9am. By then the shops were closing so it was back home to make our bed.

We drove into town for a meal in the fish restaurant at The Marine Hotel; the first place we dined on our first visit to Hermanus. Then home to fall knackered into bed.

Father's Birthday 2008

... this year was on the Monday. So the three of us siblings-plus-partners gathered at Loch Fyne in Farnham on the Sunday for a celebratory meal with Mum and Dad. Followed by the giving of gifts and general chat back at the house.

Mary and I did not hang around over-long as the back bedroom decorating was nearly complete and we were due a guest staying with us Tuesday (last) night. A bedroom needs curtain pole and curtains!

Chatting to a colleague on the Monday and hearing of her family's "X is not speaking to Y" and "I can't remember when we last got together" reminded me yet against how fortunate I am with my lot.

Mothers' Day 2008

Was spent in Scotland visiting the MIL. The usual routine: Friday evening and night at Sandra & George's, Saturday daytime and night at May's.

The original plan had been the not-usual routine of meet up with friends in central Glasgow but it was not to be. So instead one of them, Geraldine, popped down to May's for afternoon tea:


Mary, Geraldine and May admire a pashmina

Sunday we met up with G & S and their two, Ross and Sandra, for a Mothers' Day meal. Then home late Sunday.

Triple Crown settling in

It is eight months since my implant and I went back to Ashok last week for a check-up. The hole left by the extraction has filled in with bone as has the dodgy area to the right of the right-hand post.


Post and crowns - eight months later

The whole thing is made to amazingly fine tolerances, measured in microns. The posts have to be exactly parallel so the two ends of the "Siamese" crown can slide on. Compare the above with the before. The dark area is the part that has healed nicely thank you.


Posts and temporary crown - just after operation

Sainsbury's line caught Haddock fillets

extra trimmed
a succulent flakey white fish

So says the label on tonight's supper and on the back label the legend:


Ingredients
Haddock.

(!) Allergy advice
Contains fish

Well I suppose it would! Another gem from the labelling geniuses.

Alto Adige Wine Tasting Dinner at Enoteca Turi

Another fine eating and drinking experience at Enoteca Turi. This time the wines were presented not by Giuseppe Turi but a guest speaker: Tom Harrow from A Moveable Feast. We had the pleasure of him at our table so we not only got the speechy bits but more background as we ate and chatted.

Stuzzichini
Tastes from Alto Adige Canapes
Muller Thurgau DOC Borgo del Posseri 2006
*
Carne salata con barbabietole rosse e cren
Salad of salted beef, roasted beetroot, horseradish sauce
Gewurztraminer Kolbenhof DOC Hofstatter 2006
*
Canederli con speck e crauti
Canederli with speck, home made sourkraut
Teroldego Rotaliano DOC Dorigati 2005
Lagrein Riserva DOC Steinraffler 2001
*
Filetto di cervo con tre polente, radici di stagione e funghi di bosco
Venison fillet, three polentas (buckwheat, plain, potato) roasted baby root vegetables, mushroom sauce
Barthenau Vigna S Urbano DOC Hofstatter 2002
San Leonardo Vallagarina DOC 1999
*
Strudel di mele
Apple strudel with cinnamon, pine nuts, raisins, rum
Moscato Rosa DOC Elena Walch 2004
*
Coffee and fried pastries

My favourites were the Gewurztraminer, a powerful wine at 15% in a sweet Alsace style, and the Vigna S Urbano, which had the lovely strawberry nose of a mature pinot. However when we ate the food the San Leonardo and it swapped places. The SL was a bit chewy on its own but came into its own with the food - very much a food wine. For those who like to know prices they were:

1. Muller Thurgau DOC Borgo dei Posseri 2006 £13.00
2. Gewurztraminer Kolbenhof DOC Hofstatter 2006 £22.50
3. Teroldego Rotaliano DOC Dorigati 2005 £9.50
4. Lagrein Riserva DOC Steinraffler 2001 £22.00
5. Barthenau Vigna S Urbano DOC Hofstatter 2002 £37.00
6. San Leonardo Vallagarina DOC 1999 £37.00
7. Moscato Rosa DOC Elena Walch 2004 (37.5 cl) £20.00

All available, of course, from A Moveable Feast.

Jury Service

It has been such a hectic week that I have not had time to write about the jury service. Mary prudently suggests that I do not identify the specific trials nor am I allowed, by law, to discuss the jury's private deliberations.

What I will say is that I sat on two panels: one trial each week and the jury acquitted in both cases.

In the first trial my personal view was that both complainant and defendants were lying but for different reasons. A "not guilty" verdict was not difficult to arrive at.

In the second case I was sure the accused was guilty but based purely on the evidence presented by The Crown we could not be *sure* - tafka "beyond reasonable doubt". In the end it went to a majority verdict based on some good defence work and the poor quality evidence put forward by the prosecution. Bit of an own goal by the police and CPS.

There were various instructive and entertaining aspects to the whole business. One of which was hearing Mi'lud and learned counsel utter the F-word and other demotic English phrases in their best BBC English.

Another item was the little ritual exchange as each police-person gave evidence:
Counsel "Did you make notes?"
Police person "I did."
Counsel "And were those notes made within two hours of the events?"
Police person "They were."
Counsel "And were the events still fresh in your mind when you made those notes?"
Police person "They were."
Counsel "Would you like to consult those notes?"
Police person, turning to the bench "If I may Mi'lud."
Mi'lud "You may"
Counsel "Thank you Mi'lud."

At the end of the evidence the usher swears an oath to conduct us to a "private and convenient place" where we deliberate our verdict. I have to say that in both trials we, as a group, took our responsibility seriously and a good quality discussion, based on the evidence, lead to the verdict.

Wikipedia on: Jury (England and Wales)

Valentine's Day Meal 2008

Our Valentine's Day meal was at Brian Turner's restaurant in The Millenium Hotel, Mayfair. I reckon it was fair value at 60 quid for all this *and* a glass of champagne and a heart-shaped box of chocolates.

 • Lightly Spiced Oyster, Ginger and Shallot
 • Maple Basted Quail Breast, Mushroom and Hazelnut Risotto Light Chicken Tarragon Cream
 • Warm Lobster and Halibut Dumpling, Wilted Ruby Chard, Caviar Butter
 • Cream of Celeriac Soup, White Onion Tart
 • "Between the Sheets" Sorbet
 • Rack of Kentish Lamb, Creamed Spinach Onion Squash Mash, Vegetable Spaghetti
 • "Chocolate Indulgence" Soft Centred Chocolate Pudding, Milk Chocolate Mousse Dark Chocolate Ice Cream, Chocolate Sauce

The food was excellent. Mind you, as usual, we bumped the bill up a bit with a half of Meursault from Giradin and a bottle of 2001 Chateau Gloria. Then a taxi home; ah the joys of living in Zone 2

Italian Wine Tasting at Charteris Wine Society

More specifically wines from The Wine Society presented by Nicolas Belfrage MW, an Italian wine specialist who helps the Society select their Italian range. We used "The Society's Guide to Italy" written by Nicolas as our agenda working through all 10 wines, two whites then the reds working North to South:

White wines
 • Coffele Soave Classico, 2006
 • Le Giuncare Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Riserva, 2004 (Monte Schiavo)
The North East
 • Boglietti Barbera d'Alba, 2006
 • Pio Cesare Nebbiolo d'Alba, 2004
The North West
 • Hofstatter Pinot Nero Riserva, 2002
 • Amarone della Valpolicella Classico, Allegrini, 2001
Central Italy
 • Poggiopiano Chianti Classico, 2004
 • Flaccianello della Pieve, IGT Toscana, Fontodi, 2004
Southern Italy
 • Agliancio del Vulture DOC 'Armand', 2001
 • Brindisi Rosso, Vigna Flaminio, 2004 (Vallone)

Of the whites I preferred the the Soave to the Verdecchio although the latter cost 50% more, and I was not alone there.

Not surprisingly my fave was the Amarone (gobs of fruit to use a Robert Parker-ism) but the Flaccianello, which was a new one on me, was right up there with it. The latter is a Super Tuscan and at GBP 32 and 33 respectively there was a gnats whisker between them in price and quality although the Amarone got my vote. However for that price I could drink four bottles of the Chianti Classico - hmmm, tough call!

Working North to South was a bit unfair on our chosen alternative homeland of Puglia. The last two were perfectly OK drinking wines but at GBP 5.95 the poor old Brindisi Rosso trailed home after the two Tuscans. However I still preferred both of the Southern reds to either the Nebbiolo or the Pinot Nero.

All in all another interesting and educational tasting.